Crown Holdings Reports Fourth Quarter 2011 Results

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCK) today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2011.

Highlights

Fourth Quarter

• Income Per Diluted Share $0.05; Before Certain Items improves 14% to $0.48 from $0.42
• Global beverage can sales unit volumes up 9%

Full Year

• Net sales increased 9% to $8.6 billion
• Income Per Diluted Share $1.83; Before Certain Items improves 25% to $2.81 from $2.24
• Six new beverage can lines; two new beverage can plants commercialized in 2011
• Emerging markets accounted for 41% of global beverage can volume

Net sales in the fourth quarter grew to $2,058 million over the $1,949 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, primarily driven by the pass-through of higher raw material costs and higher sales unit volumes of beverage cans, offset by lower sales unit volumes of food cans and a decrease of $27 million from foreign currency translation. Approximately 74% of net sales were generated outside the U.S. in the fourth quarter compared to 73% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Fourth quarter gross profit improved to $289 million over the $288 million in the 2010 fourth quarter and included a decrease of $5 million from foreign currency translation.

Selling and administrative expense was $97 million in the fourth quarter compared to $104 million in the prior year and included lower incentive compensation costs and a decrease of $1 million from foreign currency translation.

Segment income (a non-GAAP measure defined by the Company as gross profit less selling and administrative expense) increased to $192 million in the fourth quarter over the $184 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 including a decrease of $4 million from foreign currency translation.

Commenting on the quarter, John W. Conway, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Despite the challenging business conditions in Europe and North America, the Company performed well overall in our seasonally smaller fourth quarter. Globally, beverage can volumes were up 9% on top of the 13% volume growth in the year ago quarter, primarily reflecting our emerging market capacity additions and continued strong demand in Brazil and Asia. More specifically, we enjoyed the contribution of three new beverage can lines in Brazil and one new can line in China that were commercialized earlier in the year and a new beverage can line in Vietnam that came online in the fourth quarter of 2010. In the second and fourth quarters, beverage can lines in Slovakia and Cambodia commenced commercial production and they continue to progress well through start up."

Interest expense in the fourth quarter was $58 million compared to $56 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, primarily reflecting higher average debt outstanding.

During the fourth quarter of 2011, the Company recorded charges of $50 million ($36 million, net of tax, or $0.24 per diluted share) for restructuring and $8 million ($6 million, net of tax, or $0.04 per diluted share) for asset impairments and sales, and a tax charge of $5 million ($0.03 per diluted share) in connection with the relocation of its European division headquarters. The restructuring actions are primarily in the Company's European division operations and also include the closure of a U.S. food can plant. The actions are expected to occur throughout 2012 with the majority of the anticipated benefit accruing to the Company beginning in 2013.

The Company also recorded a charge of $28 million ($18 million, net of tax, or $0.12 per diluted share) to increase its asbestos litigation reserve. Asbestos related payments totaled $28 million in 2011 compared to $27 million in 2010, and the Company expects 2012 payments to be similar to prior years' levels.

Net income attributable to Crown Holdings in the fourth quarter decreased to $8 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to $45 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter last year. Before certain items, net income increased 7.4% to $73 million over the $68 million in the 2010 fourth quarter; and earnings per diluted share attributable to Crown Holdings improved 14.3% to $0.48 over the $0.42 in the same quarter last year.

A reconciliation from net income and income per diluted share to net income before certain items and income per diluted share before certain items is provided below.

Twelve Month Results

For the full year, net sales increased to $8,644 million over the $7,941 million in 2010, reflecting higher global sales unit volumes, the pass-through of higher raw material costs and $197 million of favorable foreign currency translation. Approximately 73% of net sales were generated outside the U.S. in 2011 compared to 72% in 2010.

Gross profit for 2011 improved to $1,348 million over the $1,250 million in 2010 and reflects global sales unit volume growth, ongoing productivity improvements, and $27 million of favorable foreign currency translation.

Selling and administrative expense for 2011 was $395 million compared to $360 million for 2010. The increase in expense reflects $10 million in foreign currency translation and a one-time benefit of $20 million (recorded as a reduction to corporate and other unallocated items) realized in the first quarter of 2010 from the settlement of a legal dispute unrelated to the Company's ongoing operations.

Segment income in 2011 grew 7.1% to $953 million over the $890 million in 2010, including $17 million of improvement due to foreign currency translation. Excluding the $20 million settlement benefit realized in 2010, segment income increased 9.5% and was 11.0% of net sales in both 2011 and 2010.

Interest expense in 2011 was $232 million compared to $203 million in 2010, reflecting higher average debt outstanding and $4 million from foreign currency translation.

During 2011, the Company recorded restructuring charges of $77 million ($62 million, net of tax, or $0.40 per diluted share) primarily related to a restructuring of its European division operations and the relocation of its European headquarters from France to Switzerland, and tax charges of $47 million ($0.30 per diluted share) in connection with the relocation and a tax law change in France that limits the amount of tax loss carryforwards a company can use in any year. Also during 2011, the Company recorded a charge of $28 million ($18 million, net of tax, or $0.12 per diluted share) to increase its asbestos litigation reserve, losses on asset impairments and sales of $6 million ($4 million, net of tax, or $0.03 per diluted share) and losses of $32 million ($20 million, net of tax, or $0.13 per diluted share) in connection with the early extinguishment of its $600 million senior notes due 2015 and its senior secured notes due September 2011.

Net income attributable to Crown Holdings for 2011 was $282 million, or $1.83 per diluted share, compared to $324 million, or $2.00 per diluted share, in 2010. Before certain items, net income increased 19.3% to $433 million over the $363 million in 2010; and earnings per diluted share before certain items improved 25.4% to $2.81 from $2.24 in 2010.

Net debt (a non-GAAP measure defined by the Company as total debt less cash) was $605 million higher at December 31, 2011 than at December 31, 2010, primarily due to $328 million of North American pension prefunding and the purchase of noncontrolling partners' interests in several operations for $202 million. Additionally, the Company repurchased approximately 8.0 million Company common shares in 2011 for $312 million.

Debt and cash amounts were:

Outlook

"Our emerging market expansion program remains on schedule and budget. We are in the process of constructing three new beverage can plants in China which are expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2012. We have also announced three additional beverage can lines in China for completion in 2013. Additional beverage can capacity expansion in Vietnam is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2012 followed by the completion of a new beverage can plant in Osmaniye, Turkey in the third quarter. Importantly, all of these investments are being made to meet local demand. We continue to evaluate many new and exciting opportunities but remain committed to conservative deployment of capital by growing with our customers to meet long term demand in promising emerging markets," Mr. Conway stated.

Non-GAAP Measures

Segment income, free cash flow and net debt are not defined terms under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (non-GAAP measures). In addition, the information presented regarding net income before certain items and income before certain items per diluted share does not conform to U.S. GAAP and includes non-GAAP measures. Non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income, income per diluted share, cash flow or total debt data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may not be comparable to calculations of similarly titled measures by other companies.

The Company views segment income and free cash flow as the principal measures of performance of its operations and for the allocation of resources. Free cash flow has certain limitations, however, including that it does not represent the residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures since other non-discretionary expenditures, such as mandatory debt service requirements, are not deducted from the measure. The amount of mandatory versus discretionary expenditures can vary significantly between periods. The Company believes net debt is a useful measure of the Company's debt levels and that net income before certain items and income before certain items per diluted share can be used to evaluate the Company's operations. Segment income, free cash flow, net debt, net income before certain items and income before certain items per diluted share are derived from the Company's Consolidated Statements of Operations and Cash Flows and Consolidated Balance Sheets, as applicable, and reconciliations to segment income, free cash flow, net debt, net income before certain items and income before certain items per diluted share can be found within this release.

Conference Call

The Company will hold a conference call tomorrow, February 2, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. (EST) to discuss this news release. Forward-looking and other material information may be discussed on the conference call. The dial-in numbers for the conference call are (415) 228-5025 or toll-free (800) 475-0233 and the access password is "packaging." A live webcast of the call will be made available to the public on the internet at the Company's web site, www.crowncork.com. A replay of the conference call will be available for a one-week period ending at midnight on February 9. The telephone numbers for the replay are (203) 369-3591 or toll free (800) 839-4845.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, all other information in this press release consists of forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including future beverage can demand in emerging markets in Asia, South America and Eastern Europe, the magnitude of future payments for asbestos litigation and the Company's ability to generate benefits from restructuring activities and to implement expansion and commercialization plans on schedule that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause the statements made in this press release or the actual results of operations or financial condition of the Company to differ are discussed under the caption "Forward-Looking Statements" in the Company's Form 10-K Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2010 and in subsequent filings made prior to or after the date hereof. The Company does not intend to review or revise any particular forward-looking statement in light of future events.

Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading supplier of packaging products to consumer marketing companies around the world. World headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

For more information, contact:

Thomas A. Kelly, Senior Vice President – Finance, (215) 698-5341, or

Edward Bisno, Bisno Communications, (212) 717-7578.

Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations, Balance Sheets, Statements of Cash Flows, Segment Information and Supplemental Data follow.

(1) A reconciliation from gross profit to segment income is found on the following page.

SOURCE Crown Holdings, Inc.